MAZAR-E SHARIF

northern afghan city.

Mazar-e Sharif is a city in northern Afghanistan and the provincial capital of Balkh Province. Mazar-e Sharif means "holy tomb"; locals believe that Caliph Ali (656–661) is buried there, although al-Najaf, Iraq, is generally accepted as Ali's actual burial place. Mazar-e Sharif is Afghanistan's largest northern city and a major marketing and trading center for the northern area. The official population taken in 1988 was about 150,000, but with an influx of internally displaced persons, the population in 2003 was thought to be over 600,000. The people in the area are largely Uzbek, but the city contains major Tajik, Turkoman, and Hazara populations as well. During the resistance war (1978–1992) the city was a major stronghold of the Marxist government because of its close proximity to the Soviet Union and its flat terrain, which made it easy to defend against guerrilla activities. After the Marxist government fell in 1992, the city saw fighting between the Tajiks led by Ahmad Shah Masʿud and the Uzbeks under the command of General Abd alRashid Doestam.

Mazar-e Sharif became an important city in the resistance against the Taliban. The city changed hands several times between 1997 and 1998, resulting in the killing of several thousand civilians. After the ouster of the Taliban, the forces of General Does-tam and General Ata Mohammad fought for control of Mazar-e Sharif.

Bibliography

Adamec, Ludwig. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. 2d edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1997.

Rubin, Barnett. The Fragmentation of Afghanistan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.

grant farr

Mazār‐e Sharīf, Afghanistan Khayr, Khōdja, Khayran ‘Shrine of the Prophet's Descendant’ from mazār ‘a place of pilgrimage’, ‘shrine’, or ‘sanctuary’ from the Persian ma indicating a place and zār ‘to visit’. Sharīf, besides denoting a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad^† through his daughter Fatima, means ‘noble’, ‘honourable’, or ‘exalted’. In this case the descendant is Ali ( ibn Abī Tālib) (c.600–61), the Prophet's son‐in‐law, and the fourth caliph (656–61). The site is particularly important to Shi'ites as the shrine here is believed by many to be Ali's tomb. After his assassination in 661, Ali's followers, instead of burying him at the place of his death in Kūfah, Iraq, placed his corpse on a camel, in accordance with Ali's wishes; he was to be buried wherever it fell exhausted. According to local legend, this was at the site of what is now Mazār‐e Sharīf (conventionally, Najaf in Iraq is revered as his burial place and where, according to some, his body was exhumed and placed on the camel). When the mullahs of nearby Balkh heard the story early in the 12th century they did not believe it; however, they changed their minds after Ali had appeared to one of them in a dream, confirmed that it was true, and pointed where his uncorrupted body lay hidden. The local ruler then erected a shrine over it.